Station running toward empty

Town's only source for gasoline might close

Norm's Service is the only gas station in Julian and is likely to close at the end of the month. Equipment upgrades required by the county's Air Pollution Control District are more than the owners say they can afford. If Norm's closes, the nearest service station will be six miles away in Santa Ysabel. (Bruce K. Huff / Union-Tribune)

Norm's Service is the only gas station in Julian and is likely to close at the end of the month. Equipment upgrades required by the county's Air Pollution Control District are more than the owners say they can afford. If Norm's closes, the nearest service station will be six miles away in Santa Ysabel. (Bruce K. Huff / Union-Tribune)

Co-owner Cheryl DeWitt spoke on the phone at Norm's Service in Julian. Norman and Milene Cozens opened the service station in the late 1940s, and DeWitt and her sister bought it from them 17 years ago. (Bruce K. Huff / Union-Tribune)

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Co-owner Cheryl DeWitt spoke on the phone at Norm's Service in Julian. Norman and Milene Cozens opened the service station in the late 1940s, and DeWitt and her sister bought it from them 17 years ago. (Bruce K. Huff / Union-Tribune)

JULIAN 
The only gas station in Julian may close March 31, forcing the mountain residents to drive miles for a fill-up and making evacuations in the fire-prone area more dangerous.

Norm's Service on Main Street is a victim of the bad economy as well as government regulations that dictate fueling-system upgrades the owners say they can't afford.

Just as the pharmacy closing in town a few years back forced people to drive 20 miles to Ramona to fill a prescription, residents will have to head down the mountain for gas.

Tourists coming for the annual apple festival or to stroll Main Street's curio shops better make sure their tank isn't near empty. The nearest gas station will be six miles west, in Santa Ysabel.

“I'm very disappointed,” said Alice Froyck, office manager at The Julian News. “I've been going there for 20 years.

“I've talked to a lot of people who say, 'Oh no! we're not going to have a gas station?' ”

But there's a slim chance Norm's won't close.

County Supervisor Dianne Jacob contacted station owners Cheryl and Jennifer DeWitt yesterday to say she will see if something can be done.

“I'm extremely concerned,” Jacob said. “This is the only gas station in the area and for emergency purposes – fire and evacuation – it is needed.

“I don't want to raise expectations too high, but if there is a way to save it I want to find it.”

During the Cedar and Witch Creek fires, the DeWitt sisters used the small gas station's generator so residents could have fuel to evacuate.

Now, Jennifer DeWitt said, “people are going to have to learn to live off the top half of their tanks.”

Cheryl DeWitt said she will listen to what Jacob has to say, but expects to shutter the station at the end of the month.

Norm's has been a family operation since Milene and Norman Cozens built it in the late 1940s. The sisters – who married brothers named DeWitt – bought the station from their parents 17 years ago.

“It's the end of an era,” said Danny Baker, 67, who has worked for the DeWitts for 25 years. “It's the last family-owned business in town that hasn't gone into tourism.”

Norm's has been the only station in Julian since the early 1980s. For the past 11 years the DeWitts have struggled to make a go of the business, which includes a garage and small store.

The high price of gas last year hurt the town's tourism industry and the station. But the DeWitt's say the final straw is a mandatory upgrade issued by the county's Air Pollution Control District regarding the vapor system that keeps fumes from being released into the air while gas is pumped.

The upgrades would cost Norm's $60,000 to $100,000 this year and at least $30,000 in 2010, the DeWitts said.

“We just can't afford the upgrades,” Cheryl DeWitt said. “We've known for a year or more that this was coming and we've struggled with what to do. We just basically can't do it anymore.”

The county Board of Supervisors serves as the directors of the pollution control district. Most regulations regarding upgrades to gas station systems are mandated by state law, however.

The possibility that another wildfire someday will threaten Julian is almost a given. The entire town was evacuated in 2003 and 2007, and both times long lines formed at Norm's. During the Cedar fire of 2003, most evacuated to Borrego Springs because the road west to Santa Ysabel was blocked by flames.

“We stayed open when we should have been home packing up,” Jennifer DeWitt said. “We wanted everybody to have the chance to get out of town.”

Many Julian residents routinely go down the hill to work or to shop at grocery stores in Ramona or bulk stores like Wal-Mart and Costco in Poway.

But others prefer to stay in Julian and the thought driving miles just to get gas makes them uncomfortable.

“It's going to be a big time inconvenience,” said Leah Elmblad, manager of the Julian Market. “I always wait until the needle is on E.”